The instant invention is an improvement on a dump compactor for refuse disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,068, issued Sept. 15, 1981, and on similar prior art equipment.
The apparatus of the prior patent, while commercially successful, possesses certain deficiencies which the present invention fully overcomes. In the patented apparatus, gravity alone is relied upon in the transfer of refuse from a pivoted elevatable dumping bin into a receiver or hopper bin which is in communication with an underlying horizontal axis ram compactor. In the present invention, as one of its main improvement features, the refuse in the dumping bin is delivered into the hopper bin by the combined action of gravity and a positive refuse pusher plate on the outlet end of the dumping bin. The positive pushing operation not present in the prior art is made possible by a simple forward displacement and relocation of the pivot axis for the dumping bin, and the utilization of a unique yoke-type hinge structure for the dumping bin. Without the positive pushing feature of the present invention, there is a tendency for some refuse not to clear the dumping bin and to be lodged in the scissoring region between the dumping and hopper bins, and sometimes escapes from the apparatus, resulting in littering of the adjacent area, such as a large apartment complex.
As a further environmental protection feature of the invention absent in the prior patent, hinged deflector plates or shields of triangular construction carried by the dumping bin operate within gaps in the scissoring zones between the dumping and hopper bins, and these deflector shields remain in sliding contact with the hopper bin walls due to gravity or spring-biasing and assure a clean transfer of refuse from the dumping bin to the hopper bin.
A further improvement over the prior patented structure resides in shielding of the attachment points for the dumping bin elevating rams, for safety, obstruction-free operation, and appearance. The mounting brackets for the dumping bin hydraulic elevating rams on the compactor unit have also been simplified for ease of manufacturing and for better anchorage of the ram cylinders.
Other improvement features and advantages over the prior art will be apparent to those skilled in the art during the course of the following detailed description.